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. In this work, we present new results of atomic force microscopy(AFM) force curves over pure ice at different temperatures, performed withtwo different environmental chambers and different kinds of AFM tips. Ourresults provide insight to resolve the controversy on the interpretation ofexperimental AFM curves on the ice–air interface for determining thethickness of the quasi-liquid layer (QLL). The use of a Mini EnvironmentalChamber (mEC) that provides an accurate control of the temperature and humidity ofthe gases in contact with the sample allowed us for the first time to getforce curves over the ice–air interface without jump-in (jump ofthe tip onto the ice surface, widely observed in previous studies). Theseresults suggest a QLL thickness below 1 nm within the explored temperaturerange (−7 to −2 ∘C). This upper bound issignificantly lower than most of the previous AFM results, which suggeststhat previous authors overestimate the equilibrium QLL thickness, due totemperature gradients, or indentation of ice during the jump-in.Additionally, we proved that the hydrophobicity of AFM tips affectssignificantly the results of the experiments. Overall, this work shows that,if one chooses the experimental conditions properly, the QLL thicknessesobtained by AFM lie over the lower bound of the highly disperse resultsreported in the literature. This allows estimating upper boundaries for theQLL thicknesses, which is relevant to validate QLL theories and to improvemultiphase atmospheric chemistry models.

The quasi-liquid layer of ice revisited: the role of temperature gradients and tip chemistry in AFM studies